The Draugr
by Backroads
Summary: An eight-year-old Hiccup heads out to kill one of the walking dead.


_Another li'l Hiccup fic I write yesterday when I was sick. I figured I should do something for Halloween. _

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It was the latest Hiccup had ever stayed up at night on purpose in his eight years of life and he couldn't believe how dark it was. The only other times he had been up at night was when he snuck out during middle-of the-night dragon raids to see the darkness broken with dragon fire. But now, without a dragon in sight, it was unbelievably dark. It made him a little nervous, but he ignored that. He was going outside. No matter what.

It had been easy enough. He had drank lots of water before going to bed only the fourth time his dad yelled at him to do so, so even when closing his eyes and pretending to be asleep he couldn't actually fall asleep. He was proud of that idea. It was sneaky and it made his dad think he was asleep even though he wasn't.

Hiccup waited long after he was sure his dad had fallen asleep, then quietly climbed from his bed, making sure he didn't make a sound. If he were caught, he would be in So Much Trouble.

No one dared go out late at night by themselves. No one. Not on this night, anyway. Even the bravest Vikings stayed inside.

But Hiccup? He would be the first. He would be the Viking that went outside on Draugr Night, the night when the dead walked and apparently clawed people's flesh right off their bones. At least that was what Gobber said. It gave Hiccup excited chills just thinking about it.

He was going to kill a draugr. If they could be killed. Hiccup wasn't too sure on that concept. But he would cut out its heart and send it back to its grave. Eight years old was a pretty good time to start hunting monsters, he figured. Every Viking had to start somewhere. Even if that somewhere meant sneaking out on the most horrifying night of the year.

Though maybe he had drank too much water. So he took care of that before grabbing a knife, his notebook, and a torch. He couldn't very well attack a draugr without a knife, he sort of wanted to draw a picture of the draugr, and he needed the torch because he just couldn't see very well in the dark. It was a lot for a little boy to carry, and he really hoped he wouldn't trip and burn down half the village again.

It was the scariest night of the year, there was no doubt about that. The moon was big and full, and there didn't seem to be a single soul in Berk who was awake. Hiccup shivered as he tiptoed from the village. The leaves had changed colors, and lots of them had already fallen, leaving skeletal branches like dead hands everywhere. Hiccup shivered and for the first time that night felt fear. It was way too dark, even with the fire, and he wasn't quite sure he could get back to the village on his own.

Besides, this was the night when the dead rose from their barrows and stalked the living with no other purpose than to terrify them and maybe eat their flesh. Hiccup could easily be killed out here, his body dragged back to a draugr's barrow, never to be seen again.

He no longer tiptoed; the crunch of dead leaves under his feet were reassuring. He would certainly be able to hear anything coming. The moon was giant and full, its light cracked by all those scary branches.

A bat flew overhead, and Hiccup nearly screamed. But it was just a bat. Nothing to worry about. Then an owl hooted somewhere in the trees, a lonesome, ghostly sound.

Was he so sure it was an owl?

Hiccup changed his mind. He wanted to be back in his bed where it was warm and safe. Who cared about being a brave Viking? He was going to turn around and go home and forget all of this.

Something moved in the trees. Branches cracked, dead leaves crunched, something whispered.

Hiccup was too terrified to scream. Or move. It was a horrible thing to find he couldn't he move but could only stand where he was, shaking as the footsteps came closer and closer and closer.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

He should close his eyes. Maybe if he couldn't see the draugr it couldn't see him. Did it work that way? But his eyes were stuck open.

And then it appeared. A dark and looming shape in the trees, lanky and trembling. It moved into the torchlight.

Hiccup finally screamed.

The draugr was horrible! It was covered in dirty rags and had a face like the mush he had to eat for breakfast and it smelled like death and it made a horrible sound and it was going to kill him and eat his flesh!

But then the draugr laughed, a very strange laugh that didn't make much sense for a draugr and was interrupted by a scream as the draugr snapped in half, the top part of its body falling over to the ground.

It wasn't a draugr at all. It was just Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Ruffnut picking out the leaves that had clung to her braids when she had fallen from her brother's shoulders and Tuffnut rubbing his head where his sister had kicked him during her fall. Both were covered in old clothes and really what was mush.

Hiccup felt very stupid. "That wasn't funny!"

"Yes, it was," Tuff said. "It was really fun."

"We made you scream!" Ruff said happily. "And we're going to tell everybody!"

"Don't!" Hiccup protested. If they told everybody they would all think he was a coward and he would get in So Much Trouble with his dad for sneaking out. "You're not supposed to be out this late, either!"

The twins looked at each other, smiles gone.

"We didn't think of that," Tuff admitted.

"Don't tell our mom!" Ruff pleaded. "We just thought it would be funny to scare people tonight!"

"But what if you saw a real draugr?" Hiccup asked.

Both looked terrified at the idea.

"We didn't think of that, either," Tuff said in a tiny voice.

Hiccup took a deep breath and held up his knife. "Well, I came to catch a real one!"

"You can't catch a real one! It would eat you."

Ruff kicked her brother in the shins. "They won't eat him! All their teeth have rotted out!"

"Only if they've been dead a long time," Hiccup clarified. "Which means if they haven't been dead very long they could eat us."

Ruff's eyes went wide as she gasped. "I want to go home now! I told you this was a bad idea!"

"But it was your idea!" Tuff shot back.

"Do you guys know how to get home?" Hiccup asked.

The twins shook their heads.

"We didn't think about that part," said Tuff.

Great. They were trapped in the middle of the woods with dead bodies running around. Hiccup took a deep breath. "Okay, we will try to get back."

That seemed to make them happier.

"I still can't believe how scared you were!" Ruff exclaimed as she wiped the mash from her face. "It was so funny!"

They began to walk back through the woods, Hiccup really hoping he was going the right way. He really wasn't sure. He felt very lost.

"It wasn't funny," he replied. "It wasn't funny at all!"

The twins just laughed.

"You know what," Tuff finally said. "I don't think there really is such thing as draugr. I bet they're just made up. I'm sure of it."

Maybe Tuffnut was right. Though that would be kind of disappointing. Hiccup rather liked the idea of dead people rising from their barrows. It was interesting.

But then again, all he knew about them was old stories and he didn't know anyone who had actually seen one…

Maybe they weren't real. Maybe Vikings were too afraid to go outside over something pretend. It was very disappointing.

Just as Hiccup was about to agree with Tuffnut, something appeared right in front of them.

It was tall. It smelled really bad. It wore rags and half of its face was missing.

A draugr. A real draugr. Not some kids playing around.

Tuffnut screamed. Ruffnut started crying.

Hiccup couldn't even do that much. He was too scared.

Slowly, very slowly, the draugr raised its deathly arm. It was rotted and filled with maggots. The fingers bent and pointed to the side of the children.

"That way," the draugr said in the most horrible voice Hiccup had ever heard.

Tuffnut continued to scream and Ruffnut continued to cry.

"That way," the horrible creature said again as it stepped forward.

Maybe they should all go "that way" and the thing would leave them alone. But then again, maybe "that way" would lead them to its barrow.

"That way!" came the third command.

"Fine!" Hiccup screamed. He turned and ran the way the draugr had pointed, the twins scrambling after him. He ran into the shadows, past a tree, and…

Came out onto a hill right above Berk.

"We're home," he said simply.

"I knew we were close," Tuff said. "I knew where we were all along."

"I wasn't even scared," Ruff said.

Hiccup was scared. His heart was pounding and he felt sick. He had just faced a draugr.

A draugr that had gotten them unlost. It hadn't even tried to eat them. He wasn't sure what to make of that.

The twins made their way home, acting like it was one great adventure, and Hiccup quietly walked back to his house.

And saw his dad waiting for him at the door, arms crossed.

Hiccup gulped.

He suddenly wished the draugr had dragged him off to a barrow.

**_The End!_**


End file.
